Town Square

Stanford dean shares research on 'stereotype threat'

Original post made
on Nov 2, 2011

Why do black students, with equally good SAT scores, end up with worse college GPAs than their white counterparts? Social psychologist Claude Steele, the new dean of the Stanford University School of Education, shared his findings on such questions in a campus talk Monday.

I have to say that any such stereotypes motivated me to work even harder to prove those stereotypes wrong.

Unfortunately, many of the stereotypes for minority students often comes from members of our own racial or ethnic minorities.

I am thankful that I had public school teachers in Texas who didn't pay "special attention" to me because they expected me to succeed as much as any Anglo student. Those teachers challenged me and even told me that I was intelligent enough to succeed as well as any other students.

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis
a resident of Midtown
on Nov 2, 2011 at 6:09 pmWalter_E_Wallis is a registered user.

Simple solution. ELIMINATE ALL RACIAL IDENTIFICATION FROM EVERY STEP OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. Then treat every student as a unique individual. 40 years of playing the race game and no one has gained from it. Blacks with a 130 IQ are on the same level as 70s. Compare them with other 130s if you want numbers, but compare them as individuals.

Posted by Perspective
a resident of Midtown
on Nov 5, 2011 at 5:52 amPerspective is a registered user.

Hmmm...I get anxious anxious as a woman to prove I am equal to a man, so I do worse, so somehow that is still stereotyping's fault?

Sorry, I don't buy it.

If I am anxious, I must manage my own anxiety. I own my reactions and behaviors, and blame no one else.

No, I am not saying that it is useful to have stereotypes to overcome..I have lived it myself, ..I am saying that this implies that somehow my anxiety ( which I have indeed experienced greatly) is someone else's fault and someone else's responsibility to fix.

It adds to the stereotyping, much like affirmative action adds to the stereotyping that those of us of color or female needs extra help adds to the stereotyping.

I agree with Walter. Get past it, America, judge each of us as individuals, not part of "groups".

Posted by soren
a resident of another community
on Nov 20, 2011 at 7:36 am

The problem with the promoters of "stereotype threat" is that they're working against true stereotypes. Blacks perform a standard deviation or more below whites on (ALMOST) ALL standardized tests and Asian-Americans typically do perform better than whites.